Megyn Kelly Asks if Wearing Blackface on Halloween Is Racist: 'When I Was a Kid, That Was Okay'

Megyn Kelly stirred controversy Tuesday morning when she questioned whether wearing blackface as part of a Halloween costume is actually racist.

“But what is racist?” she asked Jacob Soboroff, Melissa Rivers and Jenna Bush Hager on Megyn Kelly Today during a discussion about censoring Halloween costumes. “Because truly you do get in trouble if you are a white person who puts on blackface at Halloween or a black person who puts on white face for Halloween. Back when I was a kid, that was okay as long as you were dressing up as like a character.”

“Dear @megynkelly — you and I are approximately the same age. Blackface was NOT okay when we were kids,” Oswalt tweeted. “Take it from a big-hearted boy who just wanted to show his love for Nipsey Russell on the worst Halloween of my life.”

“I cannot believe the ignorance on this in 2018. You are on national television. You have a responsibility to educate yourself on social issues @megynkelly. This is so damaging,” Lakshmi wrote.

“Because @megynkelly: minstrelsy is the basis for the coining of the term ‘Jim Crow’ laws which served to humiliate & target Black Americans. Because caricaturing another race perpetuates the dehumanization of POC who are being killed & jailed at a disproportionate rate in the US,” she continued.